Russia’s military support of a divided Donbas, “caused enormous damage to the economy of Donetsk and Luhansk regions,”

wrote Oleg Nemchinov, Minister of the Cabinet of Ministers on Telegram. “Russia’s occupation of part of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions has led to a sharp deterioration of the demographic situation in the whole territory,” he wrote from Mariupol where he was studying the economic situation in the Donbas. “Negative trends are observed in all three main factors that determine population dynamics: migration, birth rate, mortality.”